France launches probe into cyberbullying of Olympic boxing champion Khelif
French authorities on Wednesday launched a cyberbullying investigation following complaints lodged by Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif. In one of the biggest controversies of the Paris Olympic Games, Khelif was targeted by an onslaught of online harassment around her gender shortly after she beat Italy’s Angela Carini in the women’s 66kg preliminaries. The hot-button issue has even seen JK Rowling, Donald Trump and Elon Musk weigh in.
Issued on: 14/08/2024 -
French authorities on Wednesday launched a cyberbullying investigation following complaints lodged by Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif. In one of the biggest controversies of the Paris Olympic Games, Khelif was targeted by an onslaught of online harassment around her gender shortly after she beat Italy’s Angela Carini in the women’s 66kg preliminaries. The hot-button issue has even seen JK Rowling, Donald Trump and Elon Musk weigh in.
Issued on: 14/08/2024 -
French prosecutors say a probe has been launched following a complaint by Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif.
© Mohd Rasfan, AFP file photo
France has launched a cyberbullying probe following a complaint by Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif, who was at the centre of a gender controversy at the Paris Olympic Games, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The controversy has rapidly become a hot-button issue outside the ring, with politicians and celebrities including Donald Trump and Elon Musk weighing in.
The investigation was opened Tuesday into "cyberharassment" following the high-profile gender row at the Games, the Paris public prosecutor's office told AFP.
Read moreUnder pressure: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif triumphs after days of abuse over 'gender controversy'
The athlete's lawyer Nabil Boudi said last week that Khelif, 25, had filed a complaint for online harassment, calling it a "fight for justice."
"The investigation will determine who was behind this misogynist, racist and sexist campaign, but will also have to concern itself with those who fed the online lynching," he said at the time.
The Central Office for Combating Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes has been tasked with the investigation.
'Born a woman'
According to US magazine Variety, billionaire entrepreneur Musk and Harry Potter author JK Rowling have been named in the complaint.
Former US President Trump, who is the Republican party's nominee in the 2024 presidential race, would also be part of the investigation, Variety said, citing the lawyer.
Khelif won the women's 66kg final against China's Yang Liu in a unanimous points decision, having been the focus of intense scrutiny in the French capital during the Olympics.
Together with Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, who won the 57kg women's final, Khelif was disqualified from last year's world championships after they failed gender eligibility testing.
However they were cleared to compete in Paris, setting the stage for one of the biggest controversies of the Games.
France has launched a cyberbullying probe following a complaint by Algerian Olympic boxing champion Imane Khelif, who was at the centre of a gender controversy at the Paris Olympic Games, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The controversy has rapidly become a hot-button issue outside the ring, with politicians and celebrities including Donald Trump and Elon Musk weighing in.
The investigation was opened Tuesday into "cyberharassment" following the high-profile gender row at the Games, the Paris public prosecutor's office told AFP.
Read moreUnder pressure: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif triumphs after days of abuse over 'gender controversy'
The athlete's lawyer Nabil Boudi said last week that Khelif, 25, had filed a complaint for online harassment, calling it a "fight for justice."
"The investigation will determine who was behind this misogynist, racist and sexist campaign, but will also have to concern itself with those who fed the online lynching," he said at the time.
The Central Office for Combating Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes has been tasked with the investigation.
'Born a woman'
According to US magazine Variety, billionaire entrepreneur Musk and Harry Potter author JK Rowling have been named in the complaint.
Former US President Trump, who is the Republican party's nominee in the 2024 presidential race, would also be part of the investigation, Variety said, citing the lawyer.
Khelif won the women's 66kg final against China's Yang Liu in a unanimous points decision, having been the focus of intense scrutiny in the French capital during the Olympics.
Together with Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting, who won the 57kg women's final, Khelif was disqualified from last year's world championships after they failed gender eligibility testing.
However they were cleared to compete in Paris, setting the stage for one of the biggest controversies of the Games.
Algeria's Imane Khelif punches Italy's Angerla Carini in the women's 66kg preliminaries round of 16 boxing match during the Paris Games. © Mohd Rasfan, AFP
The row in Paris erupted after Khelif won her bout against Italy's Angela Carini in just 46 seconds with two strong punches to the Italian's nose.
Trump said he would "keep men out of women's sports" and his running mate JD Vance described the bout as a "grown man pummelling a woman in a boxing match".
Rowling also weighed in, saying on X that the Paris Olympics would be "forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini".
The International Boxing Association's Russian president and Kremlin-linked oligarch, Umar Kremlev, has targeted both athletes, claiming that Khelif and Lin had undergone "genetic testing that shows that these are men".
The IBA were responsible for the world championships in 2023 that Lin and Khelif were thrown out of, but the IOC cleared them to box in Paris.
Khelif said she is "a woman like any other".
"I was born a woman, lived a woman and competed as a woman," she told reporters about her eligibility.
"They hate me and I don't know why," she said of the IBA.
'Defamation campaign'
Russia's team has been banned from the Paris Olympics over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, Khelif received a hero's welcome at Algiers airport, with crowds cheering the boxer with chants of "Tahia Imane" (Long live Imane).
The row in Paris erupted after Khelif won her bout against Italy's Angela Carini in just 46 seconds with two strong punches to the Italian's nose.
Trump said he would "keep men out of women's sports" and his running mate JD Vance described the bout as a "grown man pummelling a woman in a boxing match".
Rowling also weighed in, saying on X that the Paris Olympics would be "forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini".
The International Boxing Association's Russian president and Kremlin-linked oligarch, Umar Kremlev, has targeted both athletes, claiming that Khelif and Lin had undergone "genetic testing that shows that these are men".
The IBA were responsible for the world championships in 2023 that Lin and Khelif were thrown out of, but the IOC cleared them to box in Paris.
Khelif said she is "a woman like any other".
"I was born a woman, lived a woman and competed as a woman," she told reporters about her eligibility.
"They hate me and I don't know why," she said of the IBA.
'Defamation campaign'
Russia's team has been banned from the Paris Olympics over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, Khelif received a hero's welcome at Algiers airport, with crowds cheering the boxer with chants of "Tahia Imane" (Long live Imane).
The row in Paris erupted after Algeria's Imane Khelif won her bout against Italy's Angela Carini in just 46 seconds. © Mohd Rasfan, AFP
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An editorial in government daily El Moudjahid praised Khelif.
"Imane's victory is also a victory for the oppressed and the excluded, but above all it is a victory for the law, which for too long has been trampled by the logic of the powerful, who are greedy for domination and adept at double-standard policies."
Asked if the International Olympic Committee was prepared to consider reviewing the gender issue, its president Thomas Bach has said: "If someone is presenting us a scientifically solid system how to identify men and women, we are the first ones to do it."
"But what is not possible that someone is saying this is not a woman just by looking at somebody or by falling prey to a defamation campaign by a not credible organisation with highly political interest."
(AFP)
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An editorial in government daily El Moudjahid praised Khelif.
"Imane's victory is also a victory for the oppressed and the excluded, but above all it is a victory for the law, which for too long has been trampled by the logic of the powerful, who are greedy for domination and adept at double-standard policies."
Asked if the International Olympic Committee was prepared to consider reviewing the gender issue, its president Thomas Bach has said: "If someone is presenting us a scientifically solid system how to identify men and women, we are the first ones to do it."
"But what is not possible that someone is saying this is not a woman just by looking at somebody or by falling prey to a defamation campaign by a not credible organisation with highly political interest."
(AFP)
Daniel Hampton
August 13, 2024
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and tech billionaire Elon Musk — both of whom have a history of espousing anti-transgender views — were reportedly named in a complaint in France over allegations of "aggravated cyber harassment” against an Olympic boxer who eventually won a gold medal.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif became the subject of GOP-led attacks by former President Donald Trump, his running mate J.D. Vance, and a variety of Fox News hosts after she defeated Italian boxer Angela Carini in under a minute.
Khelif is a woman from birth and has naturally occurring high levels of testosterone. She was excluded from competition last year for failing an unspecified gender eligibility test, which led right-wing commentators to falsely claim Khelif is transgender or even a "biological man."
Khelif filed a complaint alleging online harassment in Paris, Variety reported Monday. On Tuesday, an attorney for Khelif told Variety that Musk and Rowling were mentioned in the complaint, which was posted to an anti-online hatred center of the city'sprosecutor’s office on Friday.
The lawsuit was filed against the social media app X, according to the report, her attorney Nabil Boudi said ensures prosecutors have "all the latitude to be able to investigate against all people" — including those who may have anonymously expressed hate messages.
“J. K. Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,” he told Variety. Trump will also be part of the investigation, he said.
“Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution,” said Boudi.
Rowling posted a picture of Khelif’s bout with Carini and posted: "Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered."
Musk, meanwhile, shared a post with the caption "absolutely" from swimmer Riley Gaines that said: “Men don’t belong in women’s sports.”
Trump, for his part, also posted a picture of the match on his Truth Social app with the caption: “I will keep men out of women’s sports!”
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